Cutting apparatus.



No. 742,923. PATENTED NOV. 3, 1.903. A. STEVENS. CUTTING APPARATUS.

APPL- IIIIIIIIIIIII 313.2. 1903.

UNITED STATES iatented November 3, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

CUTTING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 742,923, dated November 3, 1903.

Application filed February 2, 1903. Serial No. 141,559. (No model.)

To a. whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANSEL STEVENS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Westbrooke, in the county of Cumberland, State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cutting Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

In my Patent No. 710,816, dated October 7, 1902,I haveillustrated,described,and claimed an improved manner of constructing the finger-bars of mowers, reapers, and similar machines, having for its object to make a given length of bar lighter, stronger, and stifier than has heretofore been possible under the old methods of construction. Generally speaking, the bar of this patent is made in sections or short lengths, each having a plu rality of fingers formed integrally therewith. The sections are interlocked with one another, and the whole series is interlocked with the inner and outer shoes. The means for locking the sections together and to the shoes vis an ordinary tie-rod that passes lengthwise the bar through all the sections and theshoes. By making the bar in this way I have secured a degree of rigidity unattainable in the rolled bars heretofore universally employed and in addition to materially lightening its weight have practically eliminated the hogging of the bar, which has always been the greatest obstacle to the employment of long bars.

The present invention is a specific improvement upon the bar of my former patent, having for its particular purpose to hold the cutters or knife-sections down in the required working contact with the ledger-plates of the guards, and thereby dispense with the overhanging fingers which are sometimes employed to press the front ends of the cutters down. These objects are attained by the coninner portion of the bar and its shoe, showing .the construction of the sections and the man- These d, projecting from the ends of the sections on the rear side of a perforation e, that extends lengthwise through all the sections,and on the front side of this perforation the grooves and flanges are formed in the portions f of the sections which form the shanks of the fingers. In this way the sections are effectually prevented from turning with respect to each other around the tie-rod g, which, as fully explained in my former patent and shown herein in Fig. 1, is threaded through the perforations, so as to fasten the sections together, or rather so as to prevent them from separating after once being interlocked, it being apparent that the function of the rod is subsidiary to that of the grooves and flanges on the ends of the sections.

As before described, both shoes are interlocked with the end sections by the same sort of flanges and grooves employed to lock the sections together. The inner shoe is shown in Fig. 2 disconnected from the adjacent section, so as to illustrate the flange c and the perforation. The tie rod 9 extends clear through both shoes and has nuts on its ends, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the whole series of interlocked sections constituting thebar is locked to the shoes, so as to be readily disconnected when occasion requires.

The cutter-bar or knife-bar, as it is frequently called, is denoted by h and is of the usual construction except that it has a rabbet or groove along its front edge forming a forwardly-projecting flange or shoulder t', as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The knives or cutledger-plates I provide rearward projections from the finger portions of the bar-sections a, which fit the rabbet of the cutter-bar and overhang the flange 2'. These projections are made at intervals corresponding to the fingers, and I prefer to make them in the form of rearward extensions of the ledger-plates p, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, where itwill be 'seen that these extended ends project rearpose.

ward and overhang'the raceway of the cutter-bar, so as to fit the rabbet in the front edge of the bar, and by overhanging also the forwardly-projecting ledge t' of the bar effectually hold its front part and the cutters proper down on the ledger-plates. As will be understood from the drawings this joint between the front edge of the cutter-bar and a part rigid with the finger-bar forms a very simple and effective holddown for the frontedge of the bar and renders unnecessary any sort of overhanging clip-fingers for this pur- The joint as a mere joint for cutter bars and apart from its present environment is not new; but when combined with a bar constructed in accordance with the above explanation, where hogging and buckling are practically eliminated, it makes a novel arrangement and constitutes a new combination that is entirely practicable. Especially will this be understood when it is considered that one of the main purposes of this construction of finger-bar is to lighten the weight and that the employment of this joint also further lightens the weight of the Whole cutting apparatus by dispensing with the employment of clip-fingers and reducing the weight of the cutter-bar.

The ledger-platesp are riveted or otherwise fastened to the fingers b; but instead of being fiat, as usually made heretofore, are formed with a depressed or recessed center, forming a hollow g, which extends lengthwise the plates clear to their front ends, as best shown in Fig. 3, leaving the side edges to have the usual cooperation with the inclined edges of'the cutters Z. This arrangement provides a sort of receptacle for the gum at the point where it tends to accumulate and where it does the most harm-via, in the center of the plates-and in order to keep this gum and it out of the rabbet in the front edge of the cutter-bar, I raise the extension 0 of the ledgerplates up to the level of the side edges. This effectually closes the rear endof the recesses in the ledger-plates and forms an additional surface for the base of the knives to rub on, thus stiffening the structure and forming,with the sides of the plates p, a border all around the hollows q.

In connection with the above-described dirt and gum receiving recesses in the "ledgerplates I contemplate slotting the cutters Z down the center, as shown at a: in Figs. 1 and 3, the object of this arrangement being to permit the accumulations in the recesses'to work out over the tops of the cutter, as well as to permit the cleaning out of the recesses without removing the knife-bar. They also further lighten up the Whole structure by reducing the weight of the knives themselves. The construction being as thus described, it is to be noted that owing to the rigidity of the bar and the absence of hogging the projecting ends of the ledger-plates or whatever other rearward projections are employed are rendered practicable as a means for holding the cutter-bar down, whereas such projections, though frequently proposed in the early patents, have heretofore been found impracticable in actual operation mainly, as is believed, because the bending of the old bars caused them to present numerous points or edges which served to cut and wear out the knifebars as they reciprocated over them. It is also to be noted in respect of the ledger-plates that the recesses or depressions in the center form little reservoirs into which the gum works from both sides of the plates, leaving the edges of the latter (which are the only parts that cooperate with the knives in the act of cutting) bare and clean, and the raising of the edges of the plates in rear of the depressions to the level of the side edges prevents the sticky grit and other dirty matter which unavoidably accumulates at that point from working backward into the slideway for the knife.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. Acutting apparatus for mowers, reapers, and the like, comprising an inner shoe, a finger-bar consisting wholly of a plurality of finger-bearing sections interlocked with the shoe and one another'and a detachable tierod for securing the sections to the shoe and one another, a reciprocating cutter-bar having a rabbet along its front edge, and projections extending rearwardly from the finger each section and a detachable tie-rod for se- In testimony whereof I affix my signature curing the sections to the shoe and to one in presence of two witnesses. another, a. reciprocating cutter-bar having a. ANSEL STEVENS rabbet along its front edge, and ledger-plates secured to the fingers and having their rear Witnesses:

ends extended rearwardly into the rabbet of BERTHA W. KNIGHT, the cutter-bar to hold the bar down. WILLIAM LYONS. 

